Hair Oils: What do you use?

Hi Monica

1. how long should you leave them in?
If you are doing a heavy oiling i.e you are saturating the hair with oil, then anywhere from an hour to 24 hours+ is appropriate. Light oilings of the ends can be done a little every day or every other day and be left in until your next scheduled shampoo day.

2. should you shampoo and condion your hair before oiling?
Heavy oilings are done before you shampoo your hair. Light oilings are done after shampoo/conditioning on either damp or dry hair. Experiment to see what suitss you best.

3. do you put your hair up while the oil is in your hair?
Yes - for a heavy oiling. I either put it into a top-knot or a cover it with a muslin scarf to keep it off my face and neck. Not so for light oilings - I wear my hair loose and the oil is indiscernable.

4. is it hard to rinse out the oil in the hair? my mom tried vo5 when she was younger and it made her har greasy and hard to get out.
There are a couple of methods with getting the oil (from a heavy oiling) out of your hair using conventional shampoo.
(a) Apply shampoo on dry hair and then add just enough water to work it into the hair and scalp - then rinse off.
(b) Apply shampoo as per normal - on wet hair. Rinse and repeat.

I would advise you to use a mild shampoo in order not to strip the scalp's natural oils.
However, a moisturising shampoo is not appropriate afetr a heavy oil application as it just won't do the job.

Hope that helps.

Uzi

hi uzi..
i checked out the mountain herb website. i didnt see the avocado oil you suggested.
What is it called??

Thanks!

Do the heavy oiling on bone dry hair. That way it won't sit on a layer of water, but will be able to directly and deeply moisturize the hair shaft.

And for heavy oiling, use one of the more penetrative hair oils, like coconut.

If anyone is really getting interested in hair oils and oiling, here is a terrific and thought-provoking article by a hair specialist.

Scroll down to the "CLEAN HAIR IS SOFT BEAUTIFUL HAIR" section and read on.

http://www.linearaveda.com/education/condition.html

Very interesting article, Uzi. I've bookmarked it and will read the whole thing another day.

Cyndie, the oil you mention, jojoba, is excellent. IMO if you use only one oil, jojoba is the one to use as your base, all-around, multi-purpose oil. Others here have far more experience with the characteristics of those other oils. One thing to keep in mind is that what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another person; frequently, people who have (essentially) the same hair type have the same or similar results with any given oil (or other haircare product, for that matter).

Okay, enough rambling from me.

SuperGrover:
Yep, i oil daily. My hair really seems to soak it up. I shampoo every other day so its not like a week of oiling had been built up on my hair. Anyways, my hair is quite dry from the ears down, and pretty thick(lots of volume, but individual strands are thin.) I think the reason i am able to use so much oil is because my hair is so damaged(from severe health problems). I hear people talking about putting a drop or two of oil and their hair and i'm like- what!? a drop, i use, uh, 10 drops??:)

Cyn1013 wrote: thanks David.... I did buy the jojoba oil. i'll try it out this weekend. when is it best applied? daily? once a week? before shampoo? dry or wet hair? i think ppl have said it is best on dry hair.

Cyndie,

I apply it to dry hair, whenever it feels "crispy" or is especially tangle-prone. Since my hair is fine I apply very sparingly to avoid the "lank" look of greasy strands. Anything from a dime-sized "puddle" to a pea-sized drop in the palm of one hand, rub the hands together so there's but a thin film on your hands. Then lightly run your hands over the surface of freshly-detangled hair, then working the fingers into your hair. The process isn't easy to describe but (as seems to be my mantra on hair care and styling techniques), practice makes perfect. Don't worry if it doesn't work well your first try. Initially, I was terrible at it, but I'm starting to get the hang of it now.

Hope this helps!

Kukui nut oil is light and odourless. It has a fragility to it - hard to describe.

Anyway, I tried it on my hair and it didn't moisturise as well as the avocado and cocunut oils.

Tried it on my skin and WOW.
This is definitely a skin care oil and a keeper.

I finally found the Carrot Oil I was talking about and it sounds interesting.

It has an herbal infusion of purified water, horsetail, stinging nettle, beta carotene, amino acids, vita E amongst a bunch of other ingredients. It claims to be a root stimulator also along with strengthening the hair so it can grow to maximum length. Time will tell if it really aids in strengthening my hair so in turn my hair can grow long...

I like the coconut oil product, it is heavier but smells so good and really softens my hair.

I am using so many different products, some natural plain oils like jojoba, or apricot oil... burt's bees to be exact. It would be hard to tell which does what at this point. But I believe I am getting the benefits from all of them.

But I'm outside most of the time, so I am putting something on my hair all the time. The heat of the sun or my own body warmth aids in the conditioning.

When I am at home it doesn't matter if I'm a grease head. And I really don't care too much if I happen to go out in public, I just put it up in a pile with a clip and go.

But I do know that since I began this treatment, on the days when I leave the oils out, my hair feels SOFT. Lots of shine and body.

It's a fun adventure!

wittils

Hi Monica

Yes. Using a moisturizing shampoo after a light oiling is fine. And warming the oil is fine too, as long as the oil is not hot – that would damage the hairn shaft.


Hi Wittils

Where did you find the Carrot oil? It does sound interesting. Is it made specifically for hair or is it marketed as a skincare produce? Sorry for all the question – this is one of the oils I have not tried out and I am curious.

I am so pleased you are getting sood results with the oiling treatments. Sounds like your hair is luscious and gorgeously soft now.

I’m off to visit an asian area today (to buy some mangoes, papayas, etc) They sell some Indian hair oils which I haven’t tried out yet, so I’m going to splash out. Actually, they aren’t expensive at all, but I want to get a few different ones and test them out.
Will report back in due course.


Take care, lovely ladies

Uzi